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7         An  Old        p 
Sweetheart  of  Mine 


3 


w      An  Old  ( 

Sweetheart  of  Mine 


James  Whitcomb    Riley 

Drawings  by 

Howard  Chandler  Christy 


Decorations  by 
Virginia  Keep 


The  Bobbs-Merrill  Company 
Publishers  Indianapolis 


Copyright,  1888-1899-1902 
James  Whitcomb  Riley 

Copyright,  1902 
The  Bo  wen- Merrill  Company 


ar-i  /w  a.  A. 


Press  of 

Braunworth.  &  Co. 

Bookbinders  and  Printers 

Brooklyn,  H.  Y. 


AT  A  idH 

OS' 


IP       An  Old          1 
Sweetheart  of  Mine 


INSCRIBED 
To  GEORGE  C.  HITT 

The  beginning  of  whose  steadfast  friendship  was 
marked  by  the  first  publication  of  these  verses 
which  now,  expanded  by  writer,  honored  by 
publisher  and  masterfully  graced  by  artist,  seem 
to  be  a  worthier  symbol  of  the  author's  grateful 
and  affectionate  regard  for  his  earliest  friend 


M111771 


List  of  Illustrations 


I      Frontispiece — An  Old  Sweetheart  of  Mine. 

II     A    fair,    illusive    vision    that    would    vanish 
into  air 

III     The    then    of  changeless    sunny    days — The 
now  of  shower  and  shine 

IV     The   old   bookshelves    and   prints   along  the 
wall 

V     I  find  the  smiling  features  of  an  old  sweet 
heart  of  mine 

VI      Its    fate    with    my    tobacco     and    to  vanish 
with   the  smoke 


List  of  Illustrations 


VII      When   my  truant  fancies  wander  with   that 
old   sweetheart   of  mine 

VIII     The  voices  of  my  children  and  the  mother 
as  she  sings 

IX     For    I    find  an   extra    flavor    in    Memory's 
mellow  wine 

X     O  childhood  days  enchanted  !   O  the  magic 
of  the   spring 

XI      To — smile,  behind   my   lesson,  at  that  old 
sweetheart  of  mine 

XII      A  face  of  lily-beauty,  with  a  form  of  airy 
grace 


List  of  Illustrations 


XIII  When  first  I  kissed  her,  and  she  answered 

the   caress 

XIV  I  slipped  the  apple  in  it — and  the  teacher 

didn't  know 

XV     She  gave  me   her  photograph^  and  printed 
"Ever  Thine" 

XVI     And     again    I    feel    the    pressure    of  her 

slender  little  hand 

XVII     Where   the   vines  were  ever   fruited,  and 
the  weather  ever  fine 

XVIII      And  she   my   faithful    sweetheart   till   the 
golden  hair  was  gray 

XIX     The  door  is  softly  opened,  and — my  wife 
is  standing  there 


*The  ordered  intermingling 

of  the  real  and  the  dream , — 
The  mill  above  the  river, 

and  the  mist  above  the  stream; 
The  life  of  ceaseless  labor, 

brave  with  song  and  cheery  call- 
The  radiant  skies  of  evening, 

with  its  rainbow  o'er  us  all. 


AN  OLD  SWEETHEART  OF  MINE! — Is  this 
lier  presence  here  with  me, 

Or  but  a  vain  creation  of 
a  lover's  memory? 


\\ 


A  fair,  illusive  vision 

that  would  vanish  into  air 
Dared  I  even  touch  the  silence 

with  the  whisper  of  a  prayer? 


!j  CUilcr  GnslY  n-1. 


X..,. 


Nay,  let  me  then  believe  in  all 
the  blended  false  and  true — 

The  semblance  of  the  old  love 
and  the  substance  of  the  new, - 


1 


The  then  of  changeless  sunny  days- 

the  now  of  shower  and  shine- 
But  Love  forever  smiling,— 

as  that  old  sweetheart  of  mine. 


( 


This  ever-restful  sense  of  home, 

though  shouts  ring  in  the  hall. — 

The  easy-chair — the  old  bookshelves: 
and  prints  along  the  wall; 


The  rare  Habanas  in  their  box, 
or  gaunt  churchwarden-stern 

That  often  wags,  above  the  jar, 
derisively  at  them. 


As  one  who  cons  at  evening 
o'er  an  album,  all  alone, 

And  muses  on  the  faces 

of  the  friends  that  he  has  known, 


So  I  turn  the  leaves  of  Fancy, 
till,  in  shadowy  design, 

I  find  the  smiling  features  of 
an  old  sweetheart  of  mine. 


it 

>. 


l- 


The  lamplight  seems  to  glimmer 
with  a  flicker  of  surprise, 

As  I  turn  it  low — to  rest  me 
of  the  dazzle  in  my  eyes. 


And  light. my  pipe  in  silence, 
save  a  sigh  that  seems  to  yoke 

Its  fate  with  my  tobacco 

and  to  vanish  with  the  smoke. 


a  fragrant  retrospection, — 
for  the  loving  thoughts  that  start 
Into  being  are  like  perfume 

from  the  blossom  of  the  heart; 


And  to  dream  the  old  dreams  over 

is  a  luxury  divine- 
When  my  truant  fancies  wander 

with  that  old  sweetheart  of  mine, 


^ 


, 


Though  I  hear  beneath  my  study, 
like  a  fluttering  of  wings, 

The  voices  of  my  children 

and  the  mother  as  she  sings- — 


I  feel  no  twinge  of  conscience 
to  deny  me  any  theme 

When  Care  has  cast  her  anchor 
In  the  harbor  of  a  dream 


Tn  fact,  to  speak  in  earnest, 
I  believe  it  adds  a  charm 

To  spice  the  good  a  trifle 

with  a  little  dust  of  harm, — 


For  I  find  an  extra  flavor 
in  Memory's  mellow  wine 

That  makes  me  drink  the  deeper 
to  that  old  sweetheart  of  mine. 


O  Childhood-days  enchanted! 

O  the  magic  of  the  Spring! — 
With  all  green  boughs  to  blossom  white, 

and  all  bluebirds  to  sing! 


When  all  the  air,  to  toss  and  quaff, 

made  life  a  jubilee 
And  changed  the  children's  song  and 

laugh  to  shrieks  of  ecstasy. 


With  eyes  half  closed  in  clouds  that  ooze 

from  lips  that  taste,  as  well, 
The  peppermint  and  cinnamon, 

I  hear  the  old  School-bell, 


And  from  "Recess"  romp  in  again 
from  "Blackman's"  broken  line, 

To— smile,  behind  my  "lesson", 
at  that  old  sweetheart  of  mine. 


A  face  of  lily-beauty, 

with  a  form  of  airy  grace, 

Floats  out  of  my  tobacco 

as  the  "Genii"  from  the  vase- 


And  I  thrill  beneath  the  glances 
of  a  pair  of  azure  eyes 

As  glowing  as  the  summer 
and  as  tender  as  the  skies. 


I  can  see  the  pink  sunbonnet 
and  the  little,  checkered  dress 

She  wore  when  first  I  kissed  her 
and  she  answered  the  caress 


With  the  written  declaration  that, 

"As  surely  as  the  vine 
Grew  'round  the  stump,"  she  loved  me — 

that  old  sweetheart  of  mine. 


Again  I  make  her  presents, 
in  a  really  helpless  way, — 

The  big  "Rhode  Island  Greening" 

(I  was  hungry  too,  that  day!) 


But  I  follow  her  from  Spelling, 
with  her  hand  behind  her — so- 

And  I  slip  the  apple  in  it— 
and  the  Teacher  doesn't  know! 


«^ 


I  give  my  treasures  to  her — all, — 
my  pencil — blue-and-red; — 

And,  if  little  girls  played  marbles, 
mine  should  all  be  hers,  instead! 


But  she  gave  me  her  photograph, 
and  printed  "Ever  Thine" 

Across  the  back — in  blue-and-red — 
that  old  sweetheart  of  mine1 


And  again  I  feel  the  pressure 
of  her  slender  little  hand, 

As  we  used  to  talk  together 

of  the  future  we  had  planned, — 


When  I  should  be  a  poet, 
and  with  nothing  else  to  do 

But  write  the  tender  verses 
that  she  set  the  music  to. 


When  we  should  live  together 

in  a  cozy  little  cot 
Hid  in  a  nest  of  roses, 

with  a  fairy  garden-spot, 


Where  the  vines  were  ever  fruited 
and  the  weather  ever  fine, 

And  the  birds  were  ever  singing 
for  that  old  sweetheart  ot  mine, 


s 


When  I  should  be  her  lover 

forever  and  a  day, 
And  she  my  faithful  sweetheart 

till  the  golden  hair  was  gray; 


And  we  should  be  so  happy 

that  when  either's  lips  were  dumb 

They  would  not  smile  in  Heaven 
till  the  other's  kiss  had  come! 


But,  ah!  my  dream  is  broken 
by  a  step  upon  the  stair. 

And  the  door  is  softly  opened, 
and — my  wife  is  standing  there: 


Yet  with  eagerness  and  rapture 
all  my  visions  I  resign,— 

To  greet  the  living  presence 

of  that  old  sweetheart  ot  mine. 


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SEP    313*7 

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U.  C.  BERKELEY  LIBRARIES 


M111771 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


